The Arab League’s recognition of the Syrian opposition as the legitimate representative of the Syrian people means that the League is refusing to allow a peaceful settlement in Syria, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.

“We have learned the results of the Arab League summit in
Doha with regret, I can tell you frankly,” Lavrov said at a
media briefing on Thursday.

“We consider the main meaning of the decisions made that the
Arab League has refused a peaceful settlement for Syria.”

“The recognition of the national coalition as the only
legitimate representative of the Syrian people contradicts the
Geneva [Communique],” Lavrov argued.

In the wake of the decisions made at the Arab League’s summit,
Moscow does not see how the UN-Arab League peace envoy for Syria
Lakhdar Brahimi is going to perform his duties, Lavrov said.

Lavrov said that one “big question” is emerging concerning
Brahimi’s UN-Arab League mandate: If one of the founders of the
mandate, the Arab League, proclaims that the national opposition
coalition in Syria is the only legitimate power, “there will be
no negotiations, only arming of the forces set to oust the
regime.”

“I simply cannot see how Mr Brahimi could still be considered
not only the UN mediator [for Syria], but for the Arab League as
well,” Lavrov said.

As for decision to supply arms to the Syrian opposition, this
decision does not only violates international law, but “is an
encouragement of confrontation of the irreconcilable forces on both
sides to make them fight this war to the bitter end,” Lavrov
said.

On Tuesday, a two-day Arab League annual summit kicked off in
the Qatari capital of Doha. Receiving a round of applause, a
delegation of Syria's opposition National Coalition entered the
hall and took the country's official seat at the gathering.

The chair had remained vacant for some time as the League
suspended the Arab republic’s membership in the organization back
in November 2011 – as punishment for President Bashar Assad’s
government crackdown on protests.

The leader of the delegation - the head of the Coalition Ahmed
Moaz Khatib - called on “friends and brothers” for support in
granting the opposition a seat at the United Nations as well as
other international organizations.

Khatib – who had earlier said he wanted to resign as the head of
the coalition - also used the forum to urge Arab leaders to beef up
assistance to the Syrian opposition, including the provision of
military aid.

The Arab League agreed that member-states had the right to
provide military support to Syrian rebels.

Moscow called the decisions made at the summit “unlawful and indefensible.” The country maintains
that the only solution to the Syrian bloodshed that has been going
on for two years is a political dialogue with all parties of the
conflict involved.

“On several occasions, she welcomed Mr Khatib's courageous
efforts to engage with representatives of the Syrian regime and
launch a dialogue leading to a peaceful resolution of the
conflict,” her spokesperson said in a statement on
Thursday.

On Wednesday, Syrian President Assad addressed leaders of the
BRICS states – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – with
a letter, to help halt the conflict in his country. The group of
five emerging powers “has become a hope for our oppressed
peoples that suffer from blatant foreign interference in their
affairs against their interests,” Assad’s message read as cited
by state-run Syrian SANA agency.